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Monday, July 12, 2010

Sam Witwer Almost Passed on US Being Human!

Sam Witwer, who will play Vampire Aidan on SyFy's US version of the BBC's hit show Being Human - a show about a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost living together - admitted to Den of Geek that he almost passed on the role of the vampire because he basically thought the idea ridiculous:

"I nearly made a big mistake, and turned it down without really reading the script. And let's be honest, the pitch for that series sounds like a joke. ‘A vampire, a werewolf and a ghost walk into a bar...!' Like, what? What is this? So when I heard that, I really underestimated it, and was in the process of turning it down... I was writing the email to turn it down, when a buddy of mine, she IMs me, and says, ‘Don't you dare turn that down, have you read the script?', and I‘m like, ‘Errr, no?'

"So, eventually I sat down with the material. I watched the British series, and I felt extremely foolish, because the metaphoric storytelling is really effective in that show, and the scripts for the American version - as well as the British series - are just so damn good. It would have been a tremendous, tremendous mistake to have turned that down. . . This would have been painful, to see this series, and see what it was doing, and to know that I would have let it go."

"So, thankfully my friend talked some sense into me. I read the script, and felt very sheepish and stupid, and then met the producers and felt even more foolish, because they're so on point and intelligent and sharp. So, what this all boils down to is that I'm extremely, extremely enthusiastic to be performing that role."

Well I can tell you that we're happy that you have seen the light Sam!

Now let's hope the series will truly be as intelligent and touching as it's original British counterpart.

SyFy's Being Human is still in pre-production, and the other major roles have not been cast yet, though Meaghan Rath (The Assistants) and Sam Huntington (Superman Returns) are still rumoured to take on the roles of the ghost and the werewolf.

Recently, Mark Pellegrino (Lost, Supernatural) was cast in the role of Bishop, Aidan's dangerous mentor.

On an aside: who else thinks Vampire Aidan was actually named for Aidan Turner? Raise your hands!